Global advancements of solar thermoelectric generators application, limitations, and prospects: A comprehensive review
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2024
Abstract
The growing interest in renewable energy resources caused by the depletion of fossil fuels and the impacts of climate change and global warming on environment caused by power generation leads to the resources producing negligible emissions. Due to clean and wide availability of solar energy and distinct sources of waste heat from both renewable and nonrenewable sources, significant attention is required to maximize the solar energy harvesting and removal of waste heat to enhance the performance of the systems. Thermoelectric generators are solid state devices considered as a potential candidate to be employed in these systems to address these issues due to their ability of direct conversion of heat into electricity. This review article covers a description of advancements in the thermoelectric generators for efficiency enhancement, and their utilization in a diversified range of applications. This paper highlights the design considerations for the thermoelectric devices and the recent attempts made to increase the performance of these devices. Heat transfer phenomenon associated with thermoelectric generation and relevant expressions are elaborated. Furthermore, it also summarizes the integration of thermoelectric generators in diversified systems and their utilization in industrial, domestic, and commercial applications. Finally, cost and scalability factors, current status, limitations, and future research scope of thermoelectric generators is provided.
Keywords
Thermoelectric generators, Waste heat, Solar thermal systems, Global advancements, Industrial, domestic, commercial applications
Divisions
advanced,umpedac
Funders
Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HRD/OSS-III/2022 HEC/67),Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) Grant, Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia
Publication Title
Applied Thermal Engineering
Volume
257
Issue
A
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher Location
THE BOULEVARD, LANGFORD LANE, KIDLINGTON, OXFORD OX5 1GB, ENGLAND